Turkey Announces Inflation for 2001

Published 7:00 pm, Wednesday, January 2, 2002

The monthly rise in December was 3.2 percent for consumer prices and 4.1 percent for wholesale prices, the State Statistics Institute said. The figures show the size of the government's task as it tries to revive an anti-inflation program derailed last year by a deep economic crisis.

As inflation soared amid the crisis, Turkey's currency lost half its dollar value and at least 1 million people lost their jobs.

The International Monetary Fund, which has already committed $19 billion in loans to Turkey, is expected to announce another $10 billion in loans later this month to help end the crisis.

Turkey has told the IMF it will use the funds to back a tough economic program designed to bring inflation down to 35 percent by the end of this year. The government aims to cut public spending, shrink the state's role in the economy, and complete the restructuring of a banking sector whose flaws were a key cause of the crisis.

The government hopes the plan will boost growth to 5 percent this year. The economy was expected to contract by up to 8 percent in 2001.